The turning of the calendar is a time for reflection and resolution; when we think about what we learned in the past year and want to do differently in the next. It's a healthy process for each of us as individuals, and also as managers and stewards of organizations. The only problem is, it doesn't usually work. In fact one study found that only 8% of Americans who make New Year's resolutions are successful.

I was having one of those days — maybe you're familiar with them? — when I felt like a passenger on a fast, jerky subway train, holding the handrail tight just to stay standing, each turn throwing me off balance.

In the old days, corporate intelligence gathering meant painstakingly gleaning information from experts and competitors' reports, subscribing to expensive online data aggregators such as Factiva or Dialog, and scanning unstructured documents from the media. Analysts typically spent 80% of their time gathering information before they even began trying to make sense of it.

No matter what type of business you’re in (or what type you want to start), you’ll need marketing skills. And given today’s media savvy consumer, you’ll most likely need to combine internet marketing with more traditional strategies. Fortunately there are a plethora of resources designed for every type of business.

These 12 books have shaped not only the way we work this year, but how we think and the conversations we're having. Authored by luminaries like Nate Silver, Clay Christensen, and Susan Cain, these delightful-to-read tomes offer insight into the power of vulnerability, habit, social media, and more

Strategy+Business is out with its annual list of the top business books of the year. They list three favorites in seven categories, biography, strategy, marketing, innovation, healthcare, organizational culture, and capitalism.